The sustainability indicator industry: Where to from here? A focus group study to explore the potential of farmer participation in the development of indicators

Abstract

In Australia, the work being carried out on sustainability indicators has become an industry on its own. This paper firstly provides an introduction that reviews the literature on indicator development and use, particularly in relation to agricultural production systems. A number of reasons for the limited use of indicators by farmers are mentioned. Secondly, a focus group study involving farmers from two dryland cropping areas in Queensland to investigate sustainability indicators and sustainable farming systems is presented. The indicators the participants identified during focus groups included indicators that reflect (i)farming system components, (ii) the management of these components, (iii) the management of all components and their interrelationships at the systems level, and (iv) the external factors that influence and interact with this systems level. Focus group analysis also showed that the participants perceived sustainability as an on-going process and a sustainable farming system as dynamic and emergent in nature. The implications of these findings are discussed. Three key issues were raised (i) the value of farmer knowledge with respect to the development of indicators has often been ignored; (ii) there are links between indicators developed through traditional science and those being used by farmers; and (iii) off-farm indicators used by farmers may be very useful in policy development at a variety of levels (e.g. catchment, regional, national, global). The focus group method involving farmers provided a useful way to gain insights about farmer perceptions and for farmers to learn from each other during the research process.